Virginia BRFSS Data

VA Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

About the Virginia BRFSS
The Virginia BRFSS is an annual survey of Virginia's adult population about individual behaviors
that relate to chronic disease and injury. The BRFSS is the primary source of state-based information
on health risk behaviors among adult populations.

Contact Staff

2015 BRFSS Call for Proposals

The Virginia Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) began operation in 1989 as part of a federal-state partnership that today has resulted in
the collection of uniform public health data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. Each year, thousands of adult
Virginians complete BRFSS landline and cellular telephone interviews regarding their health status, personal health habits, and use of preventive services.
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) requires that certain core questions appear on the survey each year, a limited amount of space is available
for states to add optional questions at their discretion.

The Virginia BRFSS Program invites VDH programs and other public health stakeholders to submit written proposals for additional survey questions. These
proposals will be used to assist the Virginia BRFSS Workgroup in planning the 2015 Virginia BRFSS survey. The BRFSS staff is available to assist programs
with developing proposals that best meet their needs. All proposals for additional survey questions should be submitted to the
Virginia BRFSS program
by 5:00 pm on October 17, 2014. A discussion of all proposals will take place on October 29, 2014 at 1pm. It is recommended that a
representative from the program proposing questions attend the meeting to present their proposal and be available to answer questions. Video-conferencing
will be available upon request.

Please see the following documents for more information on submitting proposals:

2015 CDC Draft BRFSS National Survey Questions
- Core questions will be included in the 2015 Virginia BRFSS Questionnaire. Optional questions developed and tested by CDC may be added to the 2015
Virginia BRFSS at the individual program's expense.

Once again, I look forward to working with all of you in the future to build a first rate surveillance system for Virginia.

Regards,

Danielle Henderson, MPH
Virginia BRFSS Coordinator

Background

For more than 20 years, CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) has helped states survey
U.S. adults to gather information about a wide range of behaviors that affect their health. The primary
focus of these surveys has been on behaviors that are linked with the leading causes of death including
heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, injury and other important health issues.

Through the BRFSS surveys, CDC and the states have learned much about these and other harmful behaviors.
This information is essential for planning, conducting and evaluating public health programs at the
national, state and local levels. Private organizations also rely on the survey data to develop health
promotion programs to reduce the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors and to document the effectiveness of
these programs.

The BRFSS is a telephone survey conducted by the health departments of all states, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam with assistance from CDC. The BRFSS is the largest continuously conducted
telephone health surveillance system in the world. States use BRFSS data to identify emerging health
problems; to establish health objectives and track their progress toward meeting them, and to develop
and evaluate public health policies and programs to address identified problems. The BRFSS is the primary
source of information for states and the nation on the health-related behaviors of adults. States collect
data through monthly interviews with adults aged 18 years or older. BRFSS interviewers ask questions
related to behaviors that are associated with preventable chronic diseases, injuries and infectious
diseases.

The BRFSS is flexible because it allows states to add timely questions specific to their needs. At the
same time, standard core questions on the survey enable health professionals to make comparisons among
states and local areas and also to reach national conclusions. BRFSS data have highlighted state-to-state
differences on key health issues.

Information regarding the BRFSS can be found at www.cdc.gov/brfss.
This site contains documentation related to all aspects of the BRFSS project and specific information
related to the implementation of BRFSS for each participating state plus the three participating
territories.